Lesson learned from today: posed shots suck. I spent way longer on this photo than I wanted, and I wasn’t even spending time getting the photo to be good quality. I was working on making the subject matter look good, which I hate doing. I’d rather take photos of things that are already there than screw around with making up things that aren’t. Anyways, I think this would have been better at f/3.5 or something, but this is what I’ve got.

I don’t disagree. But I was having enough trouble holding the pen steady for a reasonable time to begin with (some of my other shots were slower, so it was really noticeable when the pen moved).

Originally I wanted you to be able to see the whole pen, and have it supported by a piece of thread, but that was even more unstable, and it didn’t all fit in the picture for how close-up I wanted to be.

I’m going to try to steer away from posed shots like this, though. They’re a pain to set up and execute.

I think the concept is good, but there is one thing missing in this pseudo action shot. The human element. A pen laying across the page has been done a million times, so I definitely appreciate the deviation from the rote here. Adding in a hand would add another level of composition complication to the shot. I think working with posing and composition is a skill worth learning for any photographer, and thinking of a central theme for a composition like this will help direct you.